Reconfigurable Transparent All-Dielectric Water-Based Metamaterial for Microstrip Patch Antenna Gain Enhancement

This paper present transparent, all dielectric water-based metamaterial (MM) superstrates with reconfigurable characteristics is employed for gain and bandwidth enhancement of a water-based microstrip patch antenna. The water-based microstrip patch antenna is fed by an L-shape probe. All dielectric water-based MM unit-cell element consists of dielectric cubic boxes filled with water is designed and analyzed. The reconfigurable electric properties are achieved via changing the water height in the MM unit-cell element. Different arrangements of the MM array with water height tapering are optimized and designed for microstrip patch antenna gain enhancement. The MM array is used as a single layer superstrate placed normal to the microstrip patch. A water-based MM lens consists of three layers is designed to collimate the radiation from the microstrip patch antenna. The phase compensation in the MM lens is achieved via changing the water height in the MM unit-cell elements of the lens. A reconfigurable beam in different directions from −30° to +30° is steered by changing the water level distribution over the MM lens unit-cell elements. A full-wave analysis using the finite integration technique is used for the design and analysis of the water-based MM lens arrangements.